PBA games to resume on November 3 with additional health protocols in place

The Philippine Basketball Association is set to resume the 2020 Philippine Cup on Tuesday, November 3 with a new schedule of games.

The league was forced to call off the already shortened conference on Friday, October 30 pending new health protocols as recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

Teams, meanwhile, can return to practice on Sunday, November 1.

Commissioner Willie Marcial bared that the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has recommended to the IATF-EID the presence of a marshall who will oversee and ensure that the league bubble in Clark, Pampanga is always in compliance with the new health protocols.

As per Marcial, one of the new measures is the setting up of a temporary quarantine facility within Clark Freeport.

A total of 9 games were shelved due to the suspension, not included are the 3 matches that were initially postponed due to 2 false positive cases involving a referee and a Blackwater player.

Full statement of the league:

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) will resume its games on Tuesday, November 3. This is to ensure that the PBA complies with the protocols recommended by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID).

With the health and safety of each of the 350 participants as the PBA’s top priorities in the bubble, the organization commits to comply with the latest recommendations from the IATF:

– Completion of 10-day isolation of Blackwater player from the date of swabbing before resuming the games;
– Completion of 14-day quarantine and testing before entering the bubble for all those who will test positive moving forward; and
– The appointment of an independent marshall who shall oversee and ensure compliance with health and safety protocols, as recommended by the DILG.

As an additional safety measure and in coordination with the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), the PBA will be assigned its separate temporary quarantine facility within the Clark Freeport Zone.

These additional protocols from health experts are put in place to ensure the integrity of the bubble.

We would like to reiterate that the PBA bubble has not been breached but we must always strengthen our protocols in consultation with the IATF and NTF to ensure the safety of everyone in the bubble.

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